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SUNNYLANDS

The 25,000 square foot Mid-Century Modern
residence was designed by the late Los Angeles
architect A. Quincy Jones.

Lasting friendships and generous hos- Once staffed by 60 servants, including But don’t take the Hearst-Annenberg
pitality is what the Annenbergs were all an Irish butler, their private domain, in- analogy too far. There are no ketchup
about, as well as an unparalleled legacy cluding a golf course, has recently been bottles to be found on the dining room
of philanthropy. opened for all to see. It now joins the tables at Sunnylands as there are at San
San Simeon estate of William Randolph Simeon. As a hostess, Leonore Annen-
The wealthy couple used their Mayan-in- Hearst as being two of California’s best- berg was unmatched. Instead of one for-
fluenced home as the centerpiece of known homes that are open to the pub- mal banquet table, she typically seated
an opulent lifestyle more attuned to a lic. Like Hearst, Annenberg was a news- her dinner guests around several small,
British earl and countess in the tradi- paper publisher, and was the creator more intimate tables.
tion of “Downton Abbey” than that of of TV Guide and Seventeen magazines.
a successful American publisher and his As a Philadelphia TV station owner, he With a golf course just out the door, and
charming and equally astute wife, who promoted a young man named Dick a home designed for entertaining, Sun-
served as chief of protocol for the U.S. Clark, who gave the world “American nylands was a place where the high and
State Department. Bandstand.” mighty could kick back far away from

Wine Dine & Travel Winter 2015 41